At oversight hearing, DOA vows $5M weekly cash releases to education

Simon Sanchez High School students staged a protest calling for urgency in rebuilding their school on Oct. 30, 2017.
Frank San Nicolas/PDN

From left, Education Superintendent Jon Fernandez, University of Guam President Robert Underwood, Department of Administration Director Christine Baleto, and Guam Community College President Mary Okada, take turns answering questions from Speaker Benjamin Cruz and other senators during an oversight hearing on DOA's cash releases to education agencies on Tuesday Oct. 31, 2017.(Photo: Haidee Eugenio/PDN)

Department of Administration Director Christine Baleto said on Tuesday that $5 million will be released weekly in fiscal 2018 to education agencies which, historically, had combined cash shortfalls of $15 million to $20 million at the end of each fiscal year.

Baleto made the assurance during an oversight hearing that Speaker Benjamin Cruz scheduled after learning that education agencies were still waiting for DOA to release $16 million for fiscal 2017 when 2018 was already underway.

The University of Guam, Guam Community College and the Guam Department of Education, which oversees 41 elementary to high schools, had said the untimely release of cash potentially jeopardizes their operations.

Cruz, chairman of the legislative committee on appropriations, later announced that he will conduct a follow-up hearing on DOA in April 2018 to ensure administration officials make good on their commitments during the Oct. 31 oversight hearing.

Baleto later said the estimated $5 million in weekly remittance will come from the three education agencies' full-year appropriation under the general fund divided by 52 weeks.

"And assuming that government collections meet expectations based on that weekly release, we will be able to complete paying in their fully appropriation by the end of the fiscal year," Baleto said after the hearing.

Cruz said the oversight hearing's goal was to bring everyone to the table to prioritize education funding. Besides Baleto, also at the hearing were GDOE Superintendent Jon Fernandez, UOG President Robert Underwood, and GCC President Mary Okada.

Fernandez told the speaker and other senators that as of Oct. 30, GDOE was waiting for a little over $2 million for fiscal 2017 appropriation, from DOA.

The speaker said DOA had finally adopted a repayment schedule, potentially securing $9.7 million for UOG and $2.4 million for GCC in operational funding which was legally appropriated but administratively withheld in fiscal 2017.

"Today, DOA has given us a roadmap that should give our educational institutions the certainty it needs to plan for the future. If they deviate far from that plan, they will have to answer to all of us," Cruz said.

Baleto said the weekly cash release to education agencies are different from other agencies that receive theirs on a biweekly basis based on the schedule they work out with DOA.

"We do that in advance of the fiscal year so that people are aware and they can count on what it is that they are going to receive," Baleto added.